👎 Our failing grade

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⚡️ Sounds like: "It Ain't Easy" by David Bowie

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Today's newsletter is 767 words — a 3-minute read.

A new children's book by the folks behind Blanchet House, a free cafe serving Portland's Old Town neighborhood, aims to educate kids about homelessness — how to talk about it and what they can do to lend a hand.

Why it matters: Many children who live in larger cities grow up seeing homelessness in their neighborhoods.

• "It can be hard for parents to talk about this complex and sad issue," Julie Showers, one of the co-authors, told Axios. "Kids have this natural compassion and inevitably ask how they can help."

The big picture: In "Toby Finds a Home" (for ages 3-7), a stray, orange cat searching for food wanders into Blanchet House's lunch line — where over 1,500 free, hot meals are served daily and guests are allowed to bring their pets, who get fed, too.

• There, Toby meets several people and gets to know their reasons for homelessness, whether they just left foster care, lost a job, or are housed and just need help with food.
• Showers said telling the story through the eyes of a cat seemed to "be a more gentle way to understand homelessness."

Between the lines: Showers, who works as a spokesperson for Blanchet House, wrote the book with her mother — a former elementary school teacher — and collaborated with students from Pacific Northwest College of Art.

• Local artist Eva Wrzesinski did the illustrations.
• All proceeds from the $19.95 book support Blanchet House. It can be found online and at Broadway Books, Green Bean Books and Powell's.

Plus: There's an added volunteer guide inside, where kids learn step by step how to pack care kits and sack lunches at home to give to their local shelter.

The bottom line: Though the book was written for children, Showers said it is really for all ages and addresses what many Portlanders may be feeling at the sight of our streets: compassion fatigue.

• "I think this book is a good way to remind ourselves that these are individuals — they have individual problems and they need help."

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🐦 If you haven't seen the Vaux's swifts yet this year, better luck next time: the birds have abandoned Chapman Elementary's chimney as a roost site earlier than usual.

• The Bird Alliance of Oregon noticed increased predator activity in the area, but said its too soon to tell if that's the reason the birds left. (OPB)

🫴 Another women's sports team is coming to Portland. The Oregon Soar, an ultimate frisbee team, will play in the Western Ultimate League starting next year, but owners are stilling nailing down a practice field and stadium. (Willamette Week)

🐟 A rare, 53-pound Chinook salmon was caught in the Chetco River estuary down in southwest Oregon earlier this month. It took the angler 15 minutes to reel in.

• The average weight for a Chinook ranges from 10 to 25 pounds. The record for the species was a 83-pound beast caught in 1910. (The Oregonian)

🏚️ Gordon's Fireplace Shop, the deteriorated NE Portland building blanketed in graffiti, will be up for auction on Sept. 30, with a minimum bid of $500,000. The process could be halted though if the property owners file for bankruptcy. (KGW)

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Oregon is among the majority of states that are failing to provide accessible, transparent school performance data on student learning loss from COVID-19 shutdowns, a recent study found.

Why it matters: The lack of data makes it hard for parents to choose a school for their child using state report cards mandated by federal law or to put pressure on struggling schools.

Driving the news: The study by Arizona State's Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) released earlier this month found that most states make it hard to find pre-COVID data to compare how far today's students have fallen behind.

• Oregon and a dozen states received "F" ratings, and just seven states got "A" grades.

Between the lines: Oregon's "F" rating was due to academic performance and engagement data comparisons over time being difficult to find or being not available.

• Those measures include chronic absenteeism, graduation rates, and proficiency in English and other school subjects.

Zoom in: According to results from its spring 2023 summative tests, the Oregon Department of Education found only 43% of students were proficient in English — a sign that many are not on track for college or the workforce post-high school.

• The proficiency rates for math and science were even bleaker, at 30% and 29%, respectively.

The bottom line: Many Oregon schools are struggling with chronic absenteeism post-pandemic, which is also impacting the state's flat graduation rate.

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💻 Meira is working on the plane.

This newsletter was edited by Rachel La Corte.